Thursday, November 29, 2012

One of the primary concerns in higher education today and one of the greatest questions is: why don't students buy course materials? We know that students are less likely to buy textbooks when they are more expensive even though students are (far) less likely to succeed in class when they don't have access to the materials.

If we can lower the price of course materials we assume that we can increase the number of students who purchase the books and increase the number of students who have a greater chance at being more successful.

The easy answer is "digital lowers costs," and while that is certainly true in part, as we've covered here in the past, it is not a be all end all solution. Open Educational Resources are a great step forward, but, as recent events have shown, an entirely open model has had trouble remaining all-encompassing, entirely free, or comprehensive enough to provide a breadth of information beyond introductory subjects.

Rather, as we've also noted in the past, the answer seems to reside in content mixing. Particularly the ability to mix, when applicable, Open Educational Resource content along with carefully chosen copyrighted material.

In our opinion, of course, there's an easy solution: AcademicPub™. The ability to add just a little bit of everything, whether it be multimedia content, images, web articles, embedded links, material from our expansive content library, or your own writing, can not only streamline your course, but it can save your students money. Imagine instead of assigning three, four, or five books, you can assign one considerably slimmer book at a considerable lower price point.

Be sure to to visit us today to register and begin creating your course packs for the Spring semester.

And for all the best in ed tech, higher education, and news about AcademicPub itself, be sure to follow or like us on your social network of choice whether that's Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn.

I just added one chapter from the Kotler Marketing book to my course pack - and the students pay for ONE Chapter. I also added multimedia components and even my slides to my course pack. Everything is in one place for the students available in digital or printed formats.

I can get any content I need added to my course pack including custom pages from text books. AcademicPub clears content immediately with 164 well-known publisher partners. I can use the platform for clearance or call customer service and they'll add course pack content.

AcademicPub Delivers

E-book and print format available

Over 5 million pieces of content

Add web articles or self-authored content

Manual content clearance - we don't have every piece of content, but we'll clear it all for you!

Be sure to to visit us today to register and begin creating your course packs for the Spring semester.

And for all the best in ed tech, higher education, and news about AcademicPub itself, be sure to follow or like us on your social network of choice whether that's Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

We're excited today to announce a number of new features available as of right now in AcademicPub and thought we'd take you through a few of them.

As you know, we take seriously all recommendations that professors, teachers, and students give us, and we believe that the newest version of our textbook creation platform allows us to provide you with a more dynamic, powerful finished product than ever before.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

New York, NY, November 7, 2012 - AcademicPub™, the leading provider of custom books - digital and print - for the higher education community, announced the upcoming addition of multimedia capability, enabling instructors on the platform to add a video, audio or image link to the copyright-cleared product available for student purchase.

The announcement was made by Caroline Vanderlip, CEO of AcademicPub parent SharedBook Inc.

"At every step of the way AcademicPub has worked hand-in-glove with our invaluable team of academic advisors, who envision a future where multiple content elements can be aggregated in a cohesive way for use in the classroom," said Vanderlip. "We offer this capability live on the AcademicPub platform, in time for spring semester adoption."

According to Vanderlip, one of the most common use cases for a professor is the desire to include a YouTube™ video in his or her book. The new AcademicPub multimedia capability makes such an addition seamless, with an instant clarification that no royalty is due, and the provision of a QR code for students who choose to order a printed book, or who may wish to access the material with their mobile device.

The simple-to-access AcademicPub multimedia capability will also enable an instructor to easily insert an infographic they wish to reference, or a photo they hope will illustrate a point. Multiple image formats are supported.

In a separate announcement, AcademicPub unveiled the names of 16 new publishers who have begun to supply content to the burgeoning AcademicPub Content Library, spiking its total number of partners to 164. Now, more than 5 million units of this content can be selected for use in the classroom, in addition to other third-party content, one's own work product, and content from the Web.

Bloomsbury Academic Press, Johns Hopkins University Press and University of North Carolina Press lead the list of new AcademicPub partners, which also includes: Baylor University Press, Cedilla Publishing, Franciscan Institute Press, Island Press, Journal of Korean Studies, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, Plural Publishing, Pan Stanford Publishing, Rodopi Press, University Press of Mississippi, University of Wales Press, and World Bank. A complete list is here.

About AcademicPub

AcademicPub, SharedBook Inc's technology platform for higher education, assembles, composes, prices and delivers custom textbooks - in eBook and/or print format. AcademicPub allows for immediate creation and inclusion of copyright-cleared content from anywhere, such as web articles, self-generated lectures or from the AcademicPub Content Library. Digital or print distribution generates a fast and easy way for educators to provide an engaging educational experience, with lower prices and up-to-the-minute materials for students. More information and free registration for faculty is available at www.academicpub.com. Headquartered in New York since 2004, SharedBook Inc. is privately held and can be found at www.sharedbook.com.